22 comments:

Anonymous
said...

This is a disgrace! Why won't Dutch Kills Civic Assoc. open their eyes and allow these PRICELESS artifacts to be moved? Are they going to sit on their hands and do nothing like they did when the L.I.S.B. was LOOTED and torn down? Hey George! Sometimes a millstone isn't just a millstone!

How about giving a bunch of whinny clueless Tower People some press because they moved next to a train yard and are surprised, or a subway built for half the population and have a little inconvience. Pleny of ink (and bike lanes) there!

But, considering how the people in this area are treated, should we be be surprised?

Like mushrooms, keep them in the dark, feed them shit, and if they stick their heads up cut them off.

Now if you want to put up a 15 story building with the help of taxpayers' money, well, just step right up buddy.

Or perhaps, run a program for guest workers, or own a barracks for the same, you have world of choices for tweedinig efforts or at least a benign blind eye.

I am having a hard time telling from the pictures exactly what they are doing to the millstones. Are they packed in those wooden crates, or buried underneath that pile? Regardless, I have been outraged by the lack of respect and care the millstones have gotten even before they started this work at the plaza.

The destruction of the fabric of Queens is simply inexcusable, made worse by the involvement of our elected officials) from the 1840s St Saviours (Gallagher) in Maspeth to the 1820s Astoria Institute (Vallone funding and Gloria DaMico's son)

The bigger problem is how this gives an excuse to the Manhattan preservation crowd to ignore us (as we subsidize their designated districts with taxes and foolishly pay to keep memberships in their myopic organizations).

After all, they disingenuously tell us as they wink and send us on a fool's errand, "you need to have your representative’s approval" (historic merit? we don’t need no historic merit!)

A rep from Baloney Maloney was at the public meeting held by the community, politely said she had 15 minutes, sat thought the community’s presentation, then listened to George Stamatiades from Dutch Kills Civic say everything is okay, raised her hand, asked George is there is anything she could do to help, he said no, and she got up to leave, then talked to George’s wife (who works for Cathy Nolan) for a half hour.

Then walked out the door never to be heard of again.

Maloney gave millions of dollars in our taxpayer’s money for the Queens Plaza project.

In lower Manhattan, by the Goldman Sachs building and Fraunces Tavern, there are colonial artifacts on display below street level under glass. Having the millstones displayed that way might be a safe and enjoyable way to have them continue as part of our streetscape.

Until such time, they should be stored away from the site. Moving should be done by preservation professionals. Indeed, the stones should have been a highlight of the Museum of the City of New York's recent Hudson 400 exhibit.

Some might argue reasonably that the stones can survive the weather quite well, of course. The concern that's ignored, however, is that people make mistakes and heavy machinery augments those mistakes.

In lower Manhattan, by the Goldman Sachs building and Fraunces Tavern, there are colonial artifacts on display below street level under glass. Having the millstones displayed that way might be a safe and enjoyable way to have them continue as part of our streetscape.

Until such time, they should be stored away from the site. Moving should be done by preservation professionals. Indeed, the stones should have been a highlight of the Museum of the City of New York's recent Hudson 400 exhibit.

Some might argue reasonably that the stones can survive the weather quite well, of course. The concern that's ignored, however, is that people make mistakes and heavy machinery augments those mistakes.

They are STONE. They are WEATHERED. The city put ASPHAlT in them. The are chipped.

Funny, the city claims that they are too fragile to move to a secure location, but want to put them on a pedestal with the edges dangerously sticking out over the base, a few feet from a busy bike path, drive four stakes through their heart to secure them, then add grout.

Yup, this is the diagram that Penny Lee of Shitty Planning is handing out.

I am sorry Penny Lee. I think you are unfit for the job it this is what you are suggesting.

With all do respect, I think your proposal is an outrage.

If this is how you treat our community's heritage, YOU SHOULD STEP DOWN.

rep from Baloney Maloney was at the public meeting held by the community, politely said she had 15 minutes, sat thought the community’s presentation, then listened to George Stamatiades from Dutch Kills Civic say everything is okay, raised her hand, asked George is there is anything she could do to help, he said no, and she got up to leave, then talked to George’s wife (who works for Cathy Nolan) for a half hour.

Then walked out the door never to be heard of again.----

There is another woman who should lose her job if that is what she did. Maloney's office was closed for several years in Queens.

He is to Dutch Kills what George Delis was to Astoria - a useless, meddling, self-serving vampire that has no use for Queens history and has no regard for the people that were born here because THEY WEREN'T BORN HERE.

If an African burial ground had been found at the site, everybody would be falling all over each other to preserve the heritage lest it be destroyed. Careful archaeological work would be undertaken and construction would be diverted -- and appropriately so. But for the millstones -- nada. They're just treated as so much refuse, without consideration to their care. Shameful!

Interesting point. You are right, of course.The site is actually on or very close to an ancient Native-American foot-path that became 41st Avenue. Too bad there aren't any officially recognized tribes in Queens or we could stir up some trouble. I'm sure ther's an arrow-head or two burried there someplace.

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